Peters Creek Automotive Service Center, Inc.

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I have only spoken with "[redacted]", who said he was the owner and "[redacted]", whom [redacted] said was the office manager. I have no idea who the person who submitted this information is. My first question would be why would a reputable business allow a vehicle with no tags and no inspection to sit on their lot for weeks and months? There are many cars sitting on the lot that don't appear to be in a repair status. From Sept when the car was initially towed to their shop, she did not call us repeatedly! That is not true. The first time I spoke with her was during the 2nd week of November 2016.  If she called, I did not know anything about it! Up until that time my husband was handling this. He was concerned about the $1500+ quoted to repair the vehicle and was considering just getting rid of the car. I told him I would call Peter's Creek and work out something because we needed the 3rd car for the boys to learn to drive on. Mind you, there was NOTHING wrong with the car when it was parked. My daughter was driving it back and forth to work and decided to buy herself a car...so it was parked. I called [redacted] and we discussed how we would pay for the car. NEVER was a $40/day storage fee mentioned! I asked her what work was really need just to get the car running. We could get other things done later, but how much would it take just to get the car moving because it would only be used within town. She said ALL the work had to be done or the car would not run. I then suggested a way to pay for it. I told her that it was close to the holidays and while we did not have the money then, we would be able to pay some of the bill with Christmas gift funds and pay the remainder once we got our taxes back I told her I would give her $200 now and more during the week of Christmas and the remainder after we received our taxes. She agreed to this, again, NEVER asking us to remove the car. If she had told us she did not do payment plans, WHY did she ACCEPT this arrangement and the two payments we made, one for $200 and the other for $300?  Right there is evidence that she is not being truthful because she DID accept my suggested payment plan. She again contradicted herself by saying "I stated I could not fully work on the vehicle until the full amount is available".  This sounds like a payment plan to me! I was the one who suggested to her that maybe they could just do a little work at a time on the vehicle as we made payments and not fix everything all at once, which she agreed to.  One of the technicians there even suggested that we go to the DMV and get a temporary sticker that would allow them to have the car on their lot with expired tags....which we did.  The battery in the car was totally dead. I had to purchase a new battery from [redacted] before the mechanic who fixed the car could actually start it up...plus when it was towed to the new shop...there was no gas in the car at all. It would not start. How did she diagnose the car if the battery was TOTALLY dead, and there was no gas in it? This is what caused the problem leading to this action. I asked her what the $500 was used for. I had initially spoke with "[redacted]" after the car was towed to the new shop and told him what I had been quoted there…under $500.  [redacted] told me to call the next day, at 1pm, and speak with “[redacted]” and they would re-work my bill and see just how much they would refund me.  I called the next day as directed and spoke with “[redacted]”.  She said [redacted] was not there but she would need to call him and call me back.  I waited for about an hour…no call, so I called her.  She said she had spoken to [redacted] and he said to give me $175.  I notice she did not mention that in her response.  She said I could come to the shop on Saturday, 1/21/17 at 10am and get the money. I then asked her what the remaining $275 was being used for.  When we had the car towed to the 2nd shop, I asked about any parts that had been purchased, I was told the parts that they had purchased had not been paid for in full, only partially because I had only given her $500…at that time, “[redacted]” told me she would have to check with the distributors to see if there was any “restocking” fee and get back to me on that…but that I should not expect anything.  The conversation quickly turned sour as I continually pressed just for an explanation as to what the money was used for?  “[redacted]” said at one point that she was keeping it “for the hell of it” and that she was the owner and that [redacted] should have discussed this with her before promising to send money out.  At that point, I told her that I would see her in court, because I don’t have money to just give her for nothing and she nor [redacted] had ever mentioned a $40/day storage fee to me or my husband. She hung up and upon my calling her back started talking about me harassing her. I had a co-worker in the car with me as we were returning from lunch who heard the entire thing….I have NEVER harassed her, just questioned her about what the money I paid her was used since absolutely NOTHING was done to my car. I did not call her any more that day, which was Friday, 1/20/17. I decided to call her back on Saturday just to try again and resolve the amicably. She did not answer, but immediately texted me and asked me to stop calling.  I did not call again, but we did text for about 30 mins after that.  I have also attached a portion of the text messages between “[redacted]” and myself.  I can provide all of them if required. I have not called Peters Creek Automotive since Friday 1/20/17.  I have never threatened her or their business…unless letting her know that I intend to file a small claims action against her is considered a threat, I did tell her that. As of today, 1/30/17, I have had no further contact with the company and do not intend to unless we cannot resolve this and have to meet in court. She says she had hours of labor @$75 per hour in the car...how many hours is that?  If you look at the attached invoice, she included 8.70 hrs for a total of $652.50!  This is more than it cost to repair the car plus the labor at the shop where it was eventually repaired! We picked up the car on 1/20/17.  It needed a new battery, an oil change, a tune up (with new spark plugs), and front brakes! He also purchased 3 used tires, all for under $500. The car is running and we have had no issues with it. All I want is an honest answer and any remaining money that I am entitled to.  The towing cost $50, other than that…what did they do?  We had an agreement based on a false estimate on repairs that my car did not need. This is no fair and no consumer should be treated this way.
Regards,
[redacted]

The customers name is [redacted] that has made the complaint.  The customer that called about the vehical was her husband [redacted].  The car was towed in on our expence on September 27th, 2016.  When it was towed in the customer didn't come in to the shop they called and asked us...

to look through the whole car from A-Z and see what it needs to get back on the road.  Mind you the car had not been driven for over 2 years and the tags on the vehical was over 3 years old and sao was the inspection sticker.  I called back the customer the next day to inform him what all was wrong with the vehical and gave him the price.  he said that he would call me back.  Weeks went by then I called back and he said that he has to see how he would be able to pay for it.  months went by and the city was harrasing me for having a vehical on my property with expired tags and inspection sticker.  i kept calling the customer to inform them that they had to either remove the vehical while they are thinking about it or they had to quickly get the vehical repaied and inspected.  on December 1st they came in and put $200 deposit on there bill that was totalling $1562.60 and then over 2 weeks later they dropped of $300.  I specifically stated that I do not do payment plans that we already have hours of labor in the car @ $75/ labor hour and $50 towing... they said they will bring in money as it is available to them.  i stated I could not fully work on the vehical until the full amount is availalbe.  about 1 week ago I get a call from a gentlemen claiming to be Mrs. [redacted] brother and the he is a mechanic and he is questioning my work and what was wrong with the car and the charges I am charging her.   words were exchanged and we told mrs. [redacted] that you can not have people calling questioning my business and that if she had a mechanic brother in the first place that said he could do it cheaper why bring it here.  So Mrs. [redacted] decided to towe the vehical to her "brother".  And I told her since the vehical has been on my lot and we towed it in and I had over 7 hours of labor in the vehical that she would not be given a refund.  In my lobby I have a 2ft x 2ft sign stating that there is a storage charge of $40 a day.  I tole her that you can not have a business waist there time and run us around in circles then have a random person call and question me.  Since that day she calls us from numerous numbers threatening us and our business.  I told her I would file a harrasment complaint if she continued to do so.Thank you for hearing my side of the store I appreciate your time and im sorry that you have to deal with people all day over alligations that most of the time is the customers fault.Mysoon Mortada